Lower Saucon resident victimized in loan scam

I've warned before how applying for loans online can expose you to all sorts of creeps, including fake debt collectors. Here's another recent example from Lower Saucon Township.

Township police said a person applied for a loan online and then got a phone call saying the loan had been approved, but the applicant had to prove they could make the payments. That's the first sign this was a scam, as any legitimate lender would consider that factor prior to approval.

But unfortunately the applicant didn't catch on and instead followed the caller's instructions to buy a prepaid Visa card for 10 percent of the loan amount and provide the card information, with the expectation that the loan amount then would be transferred into their bank account.

Instead, the balance of the card was drained and the applicant never got the loan proceeds.

You can read the full account of the scam on the Lower Saucon Township Police Department's Facebook page here. For those without Facebook access, I've copied it below:

"Received another SCAM report today in which the complainant had been applying for loans on line. The Comp received a phone call from a party stating they were from Advance America (Paul Smith) and their loan had been approved.

The Comp was informed that they would have to show they could make payments and since they could not verify funds in the Comp's bank account the Comp would need to purchase a Pay Power Visa card for 10% of the loan amount. The Comp was then instructed to provide the card information to them and the loan amount would then be transferred to the Comp's bank account.

Needless to say this did not happen and upon checking the balance of the Pay Power Visa card it was 0. The phone numbers used were 702-900-9965 and 206-259-8820.

Advance America appears to be a legitimate loan agency and upon contacting them they advised they are aware of people using their business name to facilitate these types of scams. Advance America stated they do not give loans over the phone. Advance America also has a Scam Alert on their website with similar information.

A simple google search of the phone numbers used resulted in similar and non similar scams nationwide being associated with them. The 702 area code is out of Nevada and the 206 area code is out of Washington.

Please be wary when dealing with anything financially related over the phone as there are many types of scams being perpetrated. Consider doing google searches of the phone numbers, not always but often there will be previous complaints about the numbers in question."